Thoughtful SF&F

The blog has moved

2011-10-26T16:50:00.002+11:00

Setting up all over again over at Morva Shepley's Clockwork Moon. See you there.

Aliette De Bodard's Hugo Nomination

2011-09-04T17:28:00.000+10:00

We have three of Aliette de Bodard's stories on our list of suggested reading, (Here, here and here) and having followed her so far it was a great pleasure to see her name on the list of Hugo nominees for her story, "The Jaguar House, In Shadow."

The Jaguar House is set in a Mexico, Mexica, where an Aztec society still prevails alongside modern technology. All is not well in Mexica, however. There is a madman, an insane leader, stopping at nothing to suppress revolt. This leads to a chain reaction in which the leader of the Jaguar knights attempts to keep Jaguar House alive by going along with the madness. This doesn't impress the knights, and thereby hangs the tale. Ultimately, it is a sad story, and I can see how people were moved to nominate it for the Hugos.

You can read it here at Aliette de Bodard's site, or have it beautifully read to you at Starship Sofa. If you go to de Bodard's site, there is a bonus in the form of a link to another story set in the same universe.

Enjoy!

Hugo winners

2011-08-23T15:25:00.000+10:00

Much excitement over the Hugos. Sean McMullen, who has been writing for years, made it onto the best novella shortlist for "Eight Miles". I really enjoyed "Eight Miles" when I heard it on podcast from Starship Sofa. This is what I wrote elsewhere about it:

McMullen's story, 8 Miles, is a fun little adventure, set in Victorian era England, about a balloonist who is hired by a rich man to assist in some research concerning the effects of altitude upon a strange woman he has in his care. Before long, the plot thickens as the balloonist learns that his employer has ulterior motives for the research.

It is cleverly written in the style of 19thC adventures, with the quirky habit of not only mentioning which tools, for instance, were used but who manufactured or invented them.

I enjoyed it all the more for hearing it beautifully narrated by Simon Hildebrandt, who did a good job with the voices of the different characters and brought the whole thing to life.

Here is the "Eight Miles" link

The actual winner of the best novella section was Allen M Steele with "The Emperor of Mars". I haven't read it yet so there's something to look forward to.

Claire Brialey, whose writing I know of through ANZAPA, an amateur press association, won for best fan writers. Squee. Claire rocks!

One of her fanzines, Banana Wings, which is reachable here at eFanzines, was on the shortlist for best fanzine, right alongside zines like Starship Sofa, but Drink Tank, which can be found at eFanzines, won.

Another story I was familiar with through Starship Sofa was Rachel Swirsky's "The Lady Who Plucked Red Flowers Beneath the Queen's Window", (which is the main character's name, so it's not surprising that the narrator refers to her simply as "The Lady" in the recaps that begin parts two and three) which was spread out over three installments beginning here.

Rory, who became The Last Centurian in Dr Who

My all time favorite Dr Who episode, "Vincent And The Doctor", did not win Best Dramatic Presentation - Shortform. A different Dr Who episode, “The Pandorica Opens/The Big Bang,” did.

There are a couple of interesting titles on the shortlist, though, such as "Fuck Me, Ray Bradbury". It might have been nice if Shaun Tan's "The Lost Thing", a beautiful little story which has won a swag of Australian awards plus the Academy award for best animation, had won, but Shaun Tan did win for Best Professional Artist.

Plenty of good reading and viewing to follow up on from the Hugo list. Check it out.

Chris Adrian's new novel

2011-08-19T13:50:00.001+10:00

A while ago I posted a link to Chris Adrian's beautiful short story "A Tiny Feast". This story was about the fairy king and queen, Oberon and Titania, who, having stolen a changling from the human world, found themselves caring great deal about what became of it. They did not expect to care. As fairies they were not designed to care. But neither their care nor their power could help when the changeling had to go to hospital.

Chris Adrian works in emergency pediatrics where doubtless he sees these things.

A few days ago I heard that he had a new novel out called The Great Night, about three broken hearted people and their encounter in a San Francisco park with Oberon and Titania who are also broken hearted after the death of their changling. When I realised that it was a kind of sequel to "A Tiny Feast" I wondered if I could cope with a whole novel of grief, but the reviewer also says that the book was fun, so I'll be looking out for it in the libary.

(I would look forward to buying the book, but I'd need new bookshelves first. Of course, these days I could look forward to buying the ebook, but the right ereader hasn't come along for me yet.)

Cheers

Computer games: Torchlight

2011-08-16T13:45:00.005+10:00

Torchlight is a lot like Diablo but more appealing. The Torchlight of the title is kind of mining town that might be found in a cowboy western. The mine, though, has a substance in it called ember. This ember is a slow poison which is going to make your character first more powerful and then die. Your character then goes on various quests which mainly involve killing all the monsters in your path in order to reach some object or other. The harder the quest, the deeper into the mine you go, down to the remains of ancient cities and so on.

In Torchlight, you also get to have a pet. It's a smart pet. You can give it spells, which it will use to help you fight your way through the monsters, and small items of jewelry which help empower it. The best thing, gamewise, about the pet though is that it has a backpack, so when your own backpack becomes full you can place items into the pet's pack and then, when that is full of things you want to sell, you can send the pet back to town to sell everything while you continue on your quest. This is good because you don't have to fight your back up all the floors you've come down, and then fight all the way back down again to where you left off. All you need to do is send your pet, who can accomplish the trading mission very quickly.

Of course, you can use the portal scrolls to step back to town and return, but it's easier just to send the pet.

Another thing you can do with the pet is feed it fish. When fed a fish, the pet turns temporarily into a monster with monster powers to fight the enemies. The pet I chose was the ferret, which is cute, especially with its backpack and goggles.

Cheers
Terry

Fantasy worlds: Diablo

2011-08-12T10:09:00.001+10:00

The kids have been introducing me to a multiplayer computer game called Diablo. I have talked about Oblivion before, but it's not possible to play that in multiplayer mode, and I have mentioned Sacred, but that is not very satsifying when played as a group. For one thing, in Sacred only one person gets the bonus point when a quest is completed, and for another there are problems when the characters get too far apart.

So we've been playing a game called Diablo. In this game, I've been playing the character who casts healing spells and long range explosions, and most of the time I run around wondering where everyone else has got to. The kids have gotten finding me and bringing me back to the rest of the party down to a fine art.

Diablo is a very simple game. You run around in a landscape a lot helping to fulfil quests which the kids know about, sometimes using portals to get instantly back to town, sell stuff, finish the quest, cache stuff in a chest, and jump back through the portal to start where you left off.

In Diablo, when your character dies all the stuff you were carrying at the time falls beside your body and you find yourself back in town. Then you have to run to where your body is and pick up all your stuff, i.e. the latest armour and weapons etc that you've found along the way, and find the party again.

Yes, it's a fantasy game a lot like D&D in that the group can provide various skill to help the party succeed.

The landscapes are not especially appealing, not that I get much chance to look at them, and there is no reason to become particularly engaged with the characters. It's a chewing gum sort of game, which is to say that it passes the time.

This is a highly rated game, according to reviews. To my mind it's fun but not addictive.

However, it is a particular kind of game style and by learning about it I was able to pick upon Torchlight fairly easily. More about that next time.

Cheers

The Great Raven: Writing With A Day Job

2011-08-06T18:28:00.002+10:00

The Great Raven: Writing With A Day Job

Joe Haldemann once remarked that the best way for a writer to make money was to marry someone with a job.

Combining a job with the joy of writing is difficult but it's what most writers have to do. Wolfborn author Sue Bursztynski works as a teacher in a high school, which does not mean that she has short hours and plenty of holidays in which to work. What she has is lots of extra work. However, in this post she also explains the plusses to what she does. My favourite bit of advice from this post was, "If you have a car, leave it at home." Time sitting on public transport is time to write.

Cheers

Read This: Nikei Love

2011-07-26T12:50:00.000+10:00

Nikei Love, a short SF story by Marianne de Pierres
Reviewed by Terry Morris

Once upon a time I read a short story about a famous classical composer who was brought back to life. He was reconstituted in some way which I don't recall and may not have been explicitly stated anyway. People seemed pleased to come and see him, and when he was asked to come up with a new musical composition he did see. He worked very hard on it and was finally ready to give a performance. At the end of his performance there was thunderous applause, but it wasn't for him. The applause was for the man who had brought him back for life, as if this man had written the music and done the performance. In a way, he had.

The reason I remember that story was because of the sudden voicelessness, the powerlessness, of the musician.

What about works of art that have their own opinions about their lives? The most famous one to my mind would be Blodwen, the woman who was made of flowers to be the bride of a Welsh hero but who chose a different lover, thus showing a bit more spirit than Pygmalion's statue who compliantly fell in love with her creator.

Marianne de Pierres writes in a kind of cyberpunk or biopunk genre. The characters walk the mean streets of the future where techonology is high but poverty abounds and treachery is everywhere. The narrator of "Nikei Love" is a creation who is not waiting around to be sent back to the vats but is making a bid for freedom and life.

"Nikei Love" is really a brief description of a world rather than the story of a character. It leaves a couple of questions behind such as why the narrator has to go into the vats before a new creation can be made and where the non-created Humans are. Are there any left or have they enhanced themselves into better business propositions?

If you haven't read any of de Pierrre's novels, sample "Nikei Love" for a feel of the kind of world and characters she writes about.

A Chance To Try New Writing - Free!

2011-07-21T13:01:00.000+10:00

Freebies! We all know what a joy those are. In this case, it's a kind of two in one deal.

Aspiring SF&F writers will know about Critters Writers Workshop. It's free, it's online and it helps writers improve their craft firstly by critiquing the work of others, and secondly by having their own work critiqued. This is how emerging writers find out if their latest efforts are ready for the big, wide world. Is it clear in communication? Is it new? Does it need polishing? Does it tell the story the author intended? They find out by running it through Critters. Believe me, when twenty people have critiqued your story you get a rough idea of what works and what doesn't, and with so many people commenting, you can work out criticisms are due to personal preferences and which are part of a trend you should take notice of.

Critters also has a store through which some members sell copies of their ebooks. Now, on Fridays (Friday, US Mountain time), on ebook is available to read free.

Hey, it's no harder than checking out a new author through your public library. In fact, it might easier given the funding (ie, the lack of it) of public libraries lately.

Here's a Link :)

Travelling with Heinlein

2011-01-09T09:54:00.000+11:00

Audio books are great for long car journeys. A really exciting story makes a seven and a half hour car trip.

This time we went with plenty of audio books. We had a Morris Gleitzman book called once. Morris Gleitzman is generally funny but with warmth that makes it possible to deal with great themes in light way. Once, however, turned out to be a tear jerker, especially for grown ups who could see pretty early where this story was going, and even supposing it had a happy ending there would have to be some trauma along the way.

Once turned out to be the story of a Jewish boy in Poland during WWII. He is in a Catholic orphanage and waiting for his bookseller parents to find out what has happened to the books in Europe. He is good at making up stories, but while they help him and help others survive mentally, they also get in his way.

Despite the grimness of the story, the kids, Masters 11 and 14, chose to keep listening to it right to the end and seemed to prefer it to anything else we had.

Another of the books we had was Robert Heinlein's Citizen of the Galaxy. I remember Heinlein's junveniles as being the better of his books, and although I couldn't recall the story in Citizen of the Galaxy I had a vague impression of adventures and obstacles overcome and a happy ending.

This time, it seemed the young hero did not have to endure a series of hardships so much as a series of tedious lectures before winning out. This itself lead to some discussion about writing and the nature of story telling and whether tastes have changed over the decades since the book was first published in 1957. Maybe back then the descriptions of how one of his created societies might actually work, or the lectures on how to live, were mindblowing. Maybe back then those descriptions offered a glimpse into something new and different, another way to think about things. Nowadays they just get in the way of the story.

Have a great New Year!

Welcome to my house

2010-09-29T12:06:00.000+10:00

Welcome, Gentle Reader.

Above are tabs to other pages, and to your side are links to other houses. Please enjoy them.

Islamic SF

2010-09-13T11:24:00.000+10:00

It seems to me that only a little while ago there was some debate over whether there was any Islamic SF about, and if not why not. From memory (I can't remember now where I came across that discussion) the debate was centred around the science in SF.

However, Canadian writer, Ahmed A. Khan, is looking at the question from the point of view of Islamic SF being any SF that reflects, in a positive way, the values and teachings of Islam.

You are free to agree or disagree with him, since according to his article he is trying mainly just to raise discussion. One tricky point is that many of the values of Islam are shared by other religions, and even atheists, so is it valid to label such stories as Christian or Islamic SF? However, he does also suggest some books to read if you're curious about what Islamic SF is.

Hear This: "13 Ways Of Looking At Space/Time"

2010-09-02T10:00:00.002+10:00

"13 Ways Of Looking At Space/Time" by Catherine M Valente is a one you have to let yourself become immersed in so as to appreciate it properly. It probably helps to be listening to the reading by Kate Baker, instead of reading the text and being able to skip over, or skim quickly through on the theory that you've got the gist and can keep moving along the actual point. It helps to be on a treadmill at the gym while you listen to it and so not able to go anywhere else, either.

There is a payoff. All the little sections that retell various creation myths in scientific language, and all the little bits about "the SF writer", her life and her growth, all come together in the end. All the bits that you might have skipped or skimmed over, have to be there in order to make up the layers that are pulled together to make a final, moving, conclusion. It is really quite a clever as well as emotional story in the end.

You will find it here at Clarkesworld

Cheers
Morva Shepley

Hear This: "Carlos Manson Lives"

2010-08-30T10:00:00.004+10:00

The good thing about downloading a podcast is that you can listen to it anywhere. Gardening, walking, and on the treadmill at the gym are three of my own favourites. The gym, of course, has a range of TV channels to look at while we tread or cycle our way through our routines. At the hour I go, though, the screens tend to be dominated by home shopping adds, often for home gym appliances. It's a laugh.

The sound, on the other hand, is dominated by MTV music. Usually the same song day after day. We're supposed to tune our earphones to the channel and get a good sound but it doesn't seem worth it. I've taken to listening to podcasts.

Today's short story is "Carlos Manson Lives", by Lucius Shepard. It is preceded by a long interview with the author, just him and the host nattering on about his life and the films they don't agree on. Hearing this interview really helped me to understand the story, which involves a culture I just don't have. You should be warned that there is a lot of use of the the f word, so if you don't like that then don't even bother.

The story is about a superstar songstress who gets high and has a strange encounter with someone who wants her to write a song about him. After listening to Shepard talk about his life, this all made some kind of sense.

The podcast comes from Starship Sofa's, Aural Delights #148, (August 11, 2010) - you have to get to the site and tab and scroll to the bit you want. Aural Delights #148 includes a short interview, a meme really, with Ursual K Le Guin, an author I love for her Earthsea series but who is famous for lots of other things aswell.

I'm also looking forward to hearing the next installment of The Barrens, an H P Lovecraft tribute in fiction by F Paul Wilson, of whom I know nothing, but sometimes not knowing anything about the author is good for the story.

This has been my first dip into Starship Sofa, although I learned about it a few years ago from someone who likes to listen to it during his commute. I strongly recommend a good look at this site for all the little treasures you might personally come across.

By the way, Starship Sofa (don't you love that title?) is a Hugo nominee this year.

Cheers
Morva Shepley

Reading "The Immortals Quartet"

2010-08-28T08:51:00.000+10:00

Tamora Pierce has written a number of fantasy series for young adults, all presumably in the same setting and involving heroes who fight and have magical abilities to at least heal themselves, which is pretty handy for when they get injured.

The Immortals Quartet is about Daine, a young girl with the power to communicate with most animals. Animals love her, and she understands them, and can even communicate with them from a distance. As the series develops, she gains the ability to ride in animals minds to see what they can see, and through this also becomes able to transform herself in to animal form. Since the animals all love her and want to please her and fight for her when necessary, she is sometimes too over-powered to be interesting. She is so powerful that you always know she is going to be safe.

In her world, the immortals are all the beings who cannot die unless they are slain. This includes things like flying horses, basilisks, any kind of mythical creature. All these beings have been banished from the land, walled off in their own world by strong spells. However, when an evil genius starts summoning powerful beings to do his bidding, the wall begins to break down. This creates a lot of work for Daine, who finds that she can also communicate with the immortals.

The series is all a bit of chewing gum for the mind. I liked the opening of the first book because of the no nonsense way it began the story and kept moving along. This was enough to keep me moving through the first three books - especially after one of my kids got interested in the series and brought the rest of it home from his school library. So if you're the sort of person who likes the idea of a young girl who can talk to animals in a magical world, and you're not in the mood for anything at all demanding, this is worth taking a look at. For me, I enjoyed it to the extent that I am now trying the Lioness quartet, which is good in the same relaxing sort of way - but I miss the communication with the animals, especially the horses.

Cheers
Morva Shepley

Thoughts on computer gaming:Oblivion

2010-08-26T10:00:00.001+10:00

Oblivion is a sister game to the Morrowind series. Morrowind is a fantasy, first person game, and I should probably like it more than I do, but it's one I quickly gave up on despite liking the name of it. I also liked the way the character was introduced by being processed through a prison facility answering a bunch of questions like what your name is, your race, and so on. However, once outside the prison, Morrowind proved to be a murky world to look at, and there seemed to be a lot of pointless walking around and I quickly gave up on it because I rarely have time for this sort of game and when I do I want to be able to get into it quickly. At least Sacred started quickly with a life and death struggle to get you on your toes right away.

Oblivion is set in a land next to Morrowind, the hues are grey and not as dark as Morrowind's. My saner half suggests that the monotony of the landscape makes it easier for players to keep watching their character for hours on end. In any case, I find the greys, being lighter, much easier to look at. That said, I should also add that there were a couple of things about Oblivion's landscape that I really loved. The first was the night sky. Being in a kind of fantasy medieval world, the cities do not throw out much light and so, of course, the night sky can be seen in all its glory. Maybe the moon, planet, or whatever, in the sky sometimes looked a little fake compared with the starscape, but on the whole I liked it. The other thing I liked was the plants that waved in the breezes.

The story of Oblivion is that the Emperor and his heirs have been assassinated, but before he died the Emperor gave you an amulet and told you that there was still one more heir, a secret bastard who might still have the power to wield the amulet and keep the realm safe from the evil about to pour through the gates of Oblivion. You are told to take the amulet to a certain person, and that is your first mission.

You don't actually have to hurry on this quest, though.

Before beginning the game, you get to choose gender (male or female), race - the usual Human, elvish races, and Orc, plus couple of others, one being a kind of lizard alien and the other a cat alien, and you can adjust their colour and appearance somewhat.

The game opens with you in a prison in the very cell through which the Emperor and his guards have an escape route. The sequence in the prison is a tutorial session that introduces you to some of the fundamentals of playing the game - how to steer your character, pick things up, sneak around etc. However, there were a few things that I found I really needed the kids to teach me. For instance, if you press escape you get your menu from which you can save and/or exit the game, but if you want to quickly save a game you can press F5. The game tells you to press Tab in order to see your items, but it took the kids to tell me that clicking on various parts of the resulting screen gives you all sorts of information. Click on the little circle that shows what weapon you are holding, and you can see a list of everything that you are currently holding. Clicking on various symbols will show a short list of different things in your pack eg, click on the shield symbol to see only what armour and apparel you have, or the potions symbol to see only potions and ingredients. If you click on the little circle, next to your weapon symbol, that contains your spell symbol, you get a list of the spells and magic you can do. Click on the metre that shows your health, endurance and magica strength, and you open a screen with a new set of symbols which will each show you something about your character and its abilities. Click on the compass section, and you can move between a world map and a local map, or click on the goblet symbols to see and/or choose from among your quests. The good thing about all this information is that no time passes in the game while you are consulting it. This means that in mid fight you can press tab and look for, say, health potions, which can be drunk during this time out so that you return to the fray stronger than you were, and maybe find a handy spell which would be really useful right about now. It's kind of cheating, but as in many games dying and having to repeat a chunk of the action gets kind of boring so cheating is probably the better option. The game is meant to be entertaining, right?

Now here is a thing that is part of what makes Oblivion potentially more interesting than a lot of games: While in the tunnels, the choices you've made effect the kind of character you will be. Did you sneak past enemies or try to kill them? What weapons did you use? Did you open locked chests? Well, of course you did. And you often killed the enemies because you couldn't get past them otherwise, even sneaking, and you used the most effective weapon available because it would be stupid not to, and you've unlocked and taken everything of value you could find, and you've looted all the bodies because even a newbie to the game knows that there is going to be some point at which you can sell all this stuff in order to raise the funds for something useful. Even the rats you kill can be sold for a gold each. As I understand it, the idea of the tunnel section is that you will find a class and birthsign that suits the style of game you are comfortable playing. I'm just not convinced that this actually happens, though.

However, once you leave the prison and sewer tunnels section of the game, the tutorial is over, and you find yourself entering the market section of a city. This is where you can sell all the stuff you picked up in the tunnels. To map out the city, walk or run (shift key, or capslock to run) all through it. However, I found the game was more interesting outside the city, particularly if a stayed off the roads and cut through the countryside exploring any abandoned forts I came to. If you like dungeon crawling, you'll probably like exploring the tunnels under the old forts.

In theory, you don't have to do the dungeon crawling/level grinding thing. You can wander through the country side collecting plants which can either be sold for a gold a piece in a town, or made into alchemical potions to be used or sold. Potions fetch more gold than a mere plant.

Sooner or later you might get around to delivering the amulet, and maybe even go off to find the heir who can use it. Despite the urgency with which computer characters speak of these things, the kids tell me it doesn't matter what you do or when you do it. It turns out that later in the game your mission will be to close portals. Even after the heir is rescued, there are something like fifty portals to be closed. It sounds boring.

Experimenting with the different characters and classes is one thing, but I don't think I want to close fifty portals. What I want in a game is find that the story is resolved in a satisfying way.

Thoughts on computer gaming:01

2010-08-23T12:09:00.000+10:00

Becoming weary of the PC game Sacred, I've started looking around for another game that I might like to play. This has become a quest. What do I even want from a game?

Like choosing a book to read, the answer to that question depends on your mood at the time. However, what I'm thinking about here is a game like Sacred but way better, something that can be played for hours, not too demanding - if I wanted to do a puzzle I'd find a puzzle game or pick up a crossword puzzle - but not boring, either. Something engaging, something that makes me worry about my character and their world, but which is more than just one long level grind.

So I'm looking for a first person player in a fantasy world. Apparently I like leveling up, I like my character to become stronger as the game progresses. What annoyed me in Sacred was that nothing I did mattered to the world. If I accepted a mission and completed it, say to kill 40 goblins and end a blockade near a village, nothing changed. No soldiers were freed up for duty elsewhere, no advantage seemed to be taken of the food supplies now able to move. In short, nothing changed and the game moved relentlessly along its chosen story path. Still, I played it for some time because I liked the idea of the Seraphim acting in the Human world, or the idea of a Vampire suddenly turning good (why did I get the impression that this was due to accidentally drinking Seraphim blood? Was that mentioned in the game or did I add that in myself?) and I liked the idea of daemon thrown out of Hell and having to fight a demon here. I even liked the idea of the refugee orcs and goblins taking up farming out in the desert where they scratched out some irrigation channels for themselves.

So I'm looking for a fantasy game where the idea of the characters is just as intriguing but in which the actions I take have a perceptible influence, even change the outcome, of the story.

The main lesson I've learned so far is that I am not good at games, and without the kids handy to teach me how a game is played, I have no hope.

Fortunately, one was handy to help me play Oblivion

Thoughts on Oblivion next time.

Discovering Hungarian Writing Discovering Hungarian Writing

2010-08-10T12:34:00.000+10:00

Discovering a webzine called Words Without Borders, the first thing I found was an article on Writing From Hungary. After skimming it, I went to check out the fiction, because fiction is what I like - especially with my coffee. I quickly realised that, being completely unfamiliar with Hungarian literature, I should in fact read the article first. That's why I'm linking to an essay this time instead of to some fiction.

The article's author, Judith Sollosy, quickly discounts any idea that she might provide a definition of contemporary Hungarian Literature. In short, CHL is what she is pointing at when she points at it and says 'that's CHL'.

Fair enough, as far as I'm concerned. I've been around long enough to understand both the need for definitions and the reasons for avoiding the provision of them. Whatever definition you try to give in cases like this, someone is going to argue about it and the whole thing can go for years. I remember when Australian literati were arguing about whether Oz lit could only be written by Australians - a tricky notion in a migrant community, or whether it should clearly show Australianess - another tricky notion in a migrant community with a global culture. Back then, certain of the literati believed that most Australians did not even want an Australian literature, which was bemusing to me because, coming from a rural background and therefore entering the academic world from a different perspective, the ordinary readers I knew were desperate for some Oz lit. They even passed travel books around in an effort to find something about the world they knew. Thank heavens that whole argument is now out of fashion. It was really boring.

But back to Hungary.

Sollosy has chosen fiction that, appears mainstream. Now this is an SF focused blog, so in theory I should justify my decision to put a link to it. Well, I could say the stories are sort of Gothic, or that they are sort of Magic Realism, but the truth is I simply found Sollosy's article exciting. It's exciting to think that there are writers out there who are having fun with words, doing away with traditional plot and structure, and yet getting away with it: They are being published. This gives me hope. It gives me Sense of Wonder. And that's all the excuse I need.

Judith Sollosy :Writing from Hungary: An Introduction

A Free Art Exhibition

2010-07-30T12:31:00.000+10:00

Having occasion to go into Melbourne CBD this morning, and finding myself at Flinders Street waiting for a train home again, I was able to do something that I really like to do whenever I get such a chance. Taking the De Graves Street exit, I went down to see what was on exhibition in thoroughfare there.

I was lucky. There was not one, but two exhibitions, plus a busker and his dog.

One of the exhibition was a series of little knitted teapots, although some looked more like bagpipes to me, and a few even looked like Daleks. They were pinned up on a board and each had its own title beneath it. Opposite this were some large, colour photos of children and rundown houses. What I enjoyed most, though, were a couple of works of nature and artifacts interacting. There was a kickbag (remember those?) with little plants, maybe herbs, growing in it, another was a wardrobe (why a wardrobe?) emerging from the soil or sinking into it. I didn't know whether these little scenes were representing nature taking over man made environments, or civilisation emerging through the undergrowth. Either way, I enjoyed the contemplation, not to mention the humor of putting these kinds of items together.

"Truth" wins award

2010-07-09T10:55:00.001+10:00

Truth a crime fiction novel, won the Miles Franklin Award for literary merit this year. This was a exciting news for a moment before it was eclipsed by emergence of a new Prime Minister, Australia's first female Prime Minister but, it turns out, just another politician all the same, so back we go the interesting stuff: A genre novel has won the Miles Franklin.

Miles Franklin herself was a good writer. She wrote books like My Brilliant Career, which was made into a film with Judy Davis in the lead, and My Career Goes Bung. That second title shows a sense of humour and knowledge of life. Her life as a writer was actually a difficult one, partly because as a woman of her time (1879-1954) she was always going to find those patriarchal barriers to publishing. Her name was actually Stella Maria Sarah Miles Franklin. You can guess why she chose "Miles Franklin" as her pen name - when she used a name at all.

Miles Franklin was one of those writers who were interested in social justice and was active in various causes, including feminism, but particularly the promotion of Australian literature. When she died, she left in her will a sum of money to be used for an award for Australian literature. This became the Miles Franklin Award.

This award is still going. It has its controversies. For one thing, the quality of being "literary" is firmly tied to the mainstream novel in the minds of the judges. (Here's a link to a post that skitters around the notion of a genre novel having literary quality, the comments to it are particularly interesting) This means that a genre novel has, until now, no hope of being considered. Don't get me started on this subject. I can personally think of one SF writer who wrote well enough to win the Miles Franklin. That writer was George Turner, who was a co-winner of the Miles Franklin in 1962 for his novel concerning alcoholism, The Cupboard Under The Stairs. His co-winner was the well known Thea Astley for The Well Dressed Explorer. Turner later took up writing SF and demonstrated literary quality in his own work while encouraging it in aspiring writers around him. A sloppy turn of phrase, or even a turn of phrase that distracted the reader from thinking about the story, would be noticed and picked up on by George. SF fans loved him. However, he didn't win any more Miles Franklin Awards.

Now Peter Temple's crime novel, Truth, has won the award for 2010. The only book of his that I have read so far was White Dog. A friend describes Temple's work as "blokey". It's about guys. White Dog certainly involves violence and a showdown that involves a fight with a white dog. It was very firmly set in Melbourne - in fact during one scene I got out the local street map to make sure the characters were driving the right way. It made more sense once I found that they had started in a one way street.

Literary award winning novels are often boring, to my taste, and so I often don't bother reading them unless I hear from someone else that it's actually good. However, after hearing an interview with Temple about Truth, I look forward to giving it a go when I find it in the local library.

Lily Allen wins prizes

2010-05-23T17:40:00.000+10:00

I'm not surprised. Well, yes, in a way I am. Usually I like things that are not popular. I liked Star Trek back when SF was considered weird and not something that anyone would admit to. Robert Bloch, at an SF convention, remarked that fans had to hide their sf inside porn magazines to avoid being noticed. We laughed, but we knew what he meant.

(Now that I think of it, that convention had a theme song that was played whenever we were waiting for panels and things to start, "They're coming to take me away," although I think that was really an expression of the harassed feelings of the con organizers rather than a comment on fandom generally.)

I liked the TV series Moonlighting, because it broke the fourth wall, as Wikipedia puts it, which is to say that the characters addressed the camera, and were aware of the audience, thus playing with that suspension of disbelief that is the cornerstone of drama. It was fun, the way the Threepenny Opera (where the song, "Mack The Knife" comes from) is fun when the characters announce the Deus ex Machina that is going to come and save their protagonist. While I liked Moonlighting for its fun, I was given to understand that sensible people preferred Remington Steele, which I didn't dislike and therefore could not argue about.

Back to Lily Allen, though. When she sang "The Fear" in a little studio for TV, and the words were so clear, it just stunned my socks off. Maybe the song is about her own feelings, or about the angst of the 21st century, it's hard to tell. Perhaps it's both.

"22" is pretty grim as well. What are we to make of a song that tells us that at nearly thirty a young woman's life is already over? She hasn't got a guy, and her work is OK but not a career. It looks like the chances of anything great happening for her are gone. Depressing.

So I like Lily Allen's songs, but it's weird to find that other people also like them. It's a bit like when I liked Buffy, and it was very popular at the same time. It's like some law of physics is getting broken and a fine will have to be paid somewhere.

Here's a link to the usual music clip of "The Fear" - I couldn't find the one I like on Youtube.
Here's Louis Armstrong with Mack the Knife - there's about a million covers of this song, but I like Louis Armstrong.
Here's Lily Allen's "22", in case you're not sick of seeing it at the gym everyday.

Oh, and the prizes Allen won are Ivor Novello prizes for songwriting.

Cheers
Morva Shepley

"Dreams Of Babylon" : Suggested Reading

2010-05-21T14:10:00.001+10:00

Read it here: "Dreams of Babylon"
by Slawomir Rapala
In Bewildering Stories
Genre: SF

Bewildering Stories is a site that publishes free online fiction each week. The stories are chosen from all those sent to the editors, and some are written in response to contests but in any case the authors are not paid. These stories are labours of love. "Dreams of Babylon" was written in response to a Bewildering Stories contest concerning Time Travel.

"Dreams Of Babylon" is a group in the EU who, with the help of NASA and some technology developed by the Chinese, want to send a man back in time to meet Jesus Christ. The man they have chosen is a heavy smoker and alcoholic priest, Father Frank O'Hara, who once belonged to the IRA. That sounds colourful, but he doesn't, strangely enough, have a huge presence in the story. Most of this story is spent with long bits of dialogue among the other characters as they explain their plans and then explain what is happening or what has happened.

One of the strengths of this story is that it has enough conspiracy and counter-conspiracy to put Dan Brown to shame. With a bit more thought, this story could probably be turned into a fast paced action novel. The elements are already there, they just need room in which to be shown rather than told.

Cheers
Morva Shepley
http://Morvahouse.blogspot.com

"Hailing Frequencies" : Suggested Reading

2010-05-19T10:00:00.001+10:00

Read it here: "Hailing Frequencies"
By Matthue Roth
In Wily Writers Speculative Fiction Downloads
Genre : Fantasy

Matthue Roth is, amongst other things, a slam poet. That, to me, makes his work worth a look. Happily, it turns out to be worth the effort. I've got a feeling I'd enjoy his novels - their titles have a light touch and the idea of Losers, a family of Russian immigrant geeks who try to take over the world sounds like a fun read.

"Hailing Frequencies" is about a moment in time when some alien spaceships have come to hover over the great cities of the Earth. Why? No one knows. What do they want? What are they going to do? No one can tell.

Victor has got his own problems. He can't find a job and his marriage is not going well. The presence of the spaceships is just enough to top off a bad week.

It is only near the end that we get a hint as to why the spaceships have come, but even then we can't be sure. That part of the story is up to us.

Enjoy!
Morva Shepley
http://morvahouse.blogspot.com

"Dragon Is A State Of Mind" : Suggested Reading

2010-05-17T10:00:00.002+10:00

Read it here: "Dragon Is A State Of Mind"
By: Milena Benini
In: NOSF
Genre: Fantasy

The best way to reach this story is to click the link above.This will take you to a list of Croation SF stories in English. On the list find "Dragon Is A State Of Mind." Clicking on this takes you to a PDF download of the story. If you are a stranger to reading PDFs, don't be nonplussed by the back to front ordering of the pages. In the top bar is a downward facing triangle, and clicking on this will take you to the next page without you having to bother scrolling backwards and forwards.

NOSF is a Croatian SF zine, and with its English supplement is reaching out to the English speaking world. It seems only fair to reach back.

"Dragon Is A State Of Mind" is definitely English, being an Arthurian story.

I remember going through an Arthurian phase myself, years ago. "Arthuritis", a friend called it. She was trying to compile an extensive list of Arthurian lit. Other friends were extending that list by creating their own Arthurian worlds.

These days on TV we have a series called Merlin, which I don't entirely like because it messes with the Arthurian world in a way that is clearly meant to assemble a bunch of teenagers together and watch them play out the resulting dramas, but doesn't add anything to the legend. In fact, I only keep watching because I'm wondering when the dragon under Uther's palace is going to collide with the fighting dragons of the original myth. Yes, there were dragons in the original story.

The story goes that Vortigern (here and here for more details, and indeed Googling "The story of Merlin and the two dragons" gets plenty of results) was trying to have a castle built, but every night the work of the previous day fell down. Frustrated, he asked around, and was eventually brought the boy, Merlin who, he was told, might be able to explain the problem. Merlin explained that there were two dragons under the earth who were fighting every night. Their fights were causing earthquakes, and these quakes were bringing the castle down.

Waiting for this story to connect with the plot in the TV series keeps me watching.

"Dragon Is A State Of Mind" also messes with the Arthurian legend, but in a way that I am happy to accept. The author, Milena Benini (here for an interview, - she sounds like an interesting person, here for her blog, but English speakers be warned that it's in Croatian) is clearly interested in the the nature of dragons, what they might have been and why they died out. She hints that they were sustained by human belief in them, but is sensible enough not to dwell on this idea and instead goes on to speculate on the fate of the last dragon.

"Fate is a harsh mistress," she says. I like that line. The story raises, without ever directly mentioning, a very interesting idea about the nature of Arthur himself.

It's a little sad, but enjoy it.

Cheers
Morva Shepley
http://morvahouse.blogspot.com

"We Love Deena" : Suggested Reading

2010-05-14T10:00:00.001+10:00

Read it here: "We Love Deena"
By Alice Sola Kim
In Strange Horizons

"We Love Deena" is a kind of romantic horror story. It's told from the point of view of a woman who is passionately in love and who courts the object of her desire by hopping from one body to another in order to be with her. It doesn't matter, though, what form she takes. It never works. What makes it worse is that we can see, although she doesn't, how awful this form of stalking would be. The horror comes at the end when we find the stalker is about to take the next, logical, step.

"Hangman": story suggestion

2010-05-12T10:00:00.001+10:00

Read it Here: "Hangman"
By Erin Cashier
In: Beneath Ceaseless Skies
Genre: Fantasy

Beneath Ceaseless Skies has some beautiful artwork in it, worth a look.

It aims at an eerie kind of fantasy, some of which works better than others. "Hangman" is one of the more engaging ones, being a kind of space western in which the characters live a kind of frontier lifestyle while the world gets larger beneath them. This is an interesting idea, as are the trains which are able to go on traversing the expanding land and which have become in some way bringers of supplies and death. Together with them is the "hangman", who is actually a hanged man who did not, and does not, die. These are all riveting elements.

For me, these elements are not quite pulled together in a satisfying way. The way the train becomes dragon-like instead of remaining true to its own freakish nature is a little disappointing. It means that the final encounter between the train and the Hangman contains hints of the kind of explosion in the mind that might have been, but without the actual fireworks. "Hangman" is no fizzer - I would not have linked to it as suggested reading if it was nothing more than a damp squib, but it doesn't quite provide the neural explosion that its elements hint at.

It is my hope that Cashier will write other Hangman stories and be able to give those trains the impact they deserve.

Cheers
Morva Shepley

"Women's Murder Club" : PC Game Review

2010-05-11T15:19:00.000+10:00

Women's Murder Club: Death in Scarlet.

The Women's Murder Club started as a series of books by James Patterson (who's Maximum Ride series is currently enjoying favor with my kids) has been a TV series and a computer game.

An unknown woman is found murdered. On her body is a mysterious tattoo. Then a second body is found, this time of a famous news reporter. She has also been tattooed. It is up to the three women of the Murder Club to identify the murderer.

Death in Scarlet is a simple point and click game. Sometimes you have to know exactly how to point and click. In many games, it's enough to drag one object over another in order to activate them, but in this game you sometimes have point the arrow icon in exactly the right place regardless of where the object being dragged is.

The game mainly involves finding objects from a list that have been scattered and concealed around a cluttered room. Some of the objects are needed in order to solve another puzzle such as how to open a box, and a few are even relevant to the case. There are five hints available in each investigation section to help you find objects, and other puzzles often have clues or hints to help you, or you can skip them all together. In some puzzles the game doesn't really let you get it wrong.

I rate this game as a chewing gum game: something to do that's not too taxing. If you didn't have to spend so much time staring at the screen to find objects, I'd rate it as a good game to play while watching TV, like Patience, Solitaire or Tetris.

"Even Dragons Dance" by Christopher Kastensmidt: Suggested Reading

2010-05-10T10:00:00.001+10:00

Read it Here: "Even Dragons Dance"
By Christopher Kastensmidt
In : Dragons, Knights and Angels
Genre: Fantasy

There is a whole sub genre devoted to turning our expectations about knights and dragons on their heads. In this case, the knight is married and not very romantic towards his wife. He is in a hurry to get out and slay the latest dragon in the kingdom. Protecting the kingdom is, after all, his job.

Perhaps, though, he should take the time to smell the roses.

Cheers
Morva Shepley

Pirates Rule

2010-05-09T10:15:00.001+10:00

Gilbert and Sullivan still rock.

"Who's Gilbert and - " Master 13 asked after came out from a performance of Pirates of Penzance.

"They're the people what wrote it," I told him.

He didn't seem impressed, but it's hard to tell with a thirteen year old.

The kids had been sold the idea of going to a musical by the idea of a bunch of pirates who never attack anyone weaker than themselves, and never harm an orphan. Oddly, there seems to be a lot of orphans in the British navy. I think the kids enjoyed it - They certainly didn't protest. Other kids in the audience came dressed as pirates, and while the curtains were down and the overtures were playing, all the kids were drawn to the orchestra pit. It must have looked funny to the musicians looking up to see this ring of faces peering down at them.

The production I saw yesterday was an amateur one by Savoy Opera. They don't have a DVD so I've linked to this one instead. There are lots of them, but I chose this one because years ago I enjoyed seeing Simon Gallagher and Jon English with, I think from my admittedly faulty memory, Marina Prior as Mabel. Marina Prior was popular at the time and also appeared as Guinevere in Camelot, so I may have become muddled. She's not listed on this DVD, but I'm sure it's a good one anyway. I wonder if it's a post Pirates of the Caribbean
production. You can tell if it is because the Pirate King became modeled on the Johnny Depp character.

There's something about a live performance - my Saner Half calls it the empathy factor - that you don't get from a recording, which is exactly why we took the kids for their first G&S. Even a ten year old can like it.

"Sacred" PC game review

2010-05-07T10:50:00.000+10:00

Sacred is a pretty game with green hills and blue skies, except in the desert where it has brown sand and blue skies, and it is a very easy game to play. It is the game I'm inclined to play when I'm not feeling well.

The basic storyline of Sacred is that someone has summoned an evil demon from Hell and now it is loose in the land of Ancaria. This is causing all sorts of repercussions, these mainly being a lot of undead roaming the land in the form of skeletons, zombies and the occasional mummy. Meanwhile, the old king of Ancaria is dying and the bad guys, lead by Baron De Mordrey, are planning to take the crown that rightfully goes Prince Valor (a name not much different to "Prince Charming"), with his love interest Baroness Vilya being second in line. It is this intrigue, rather than the presence of the demon and the undead, that leads to the character's adventures.

I played mainly Sacred Plus , and only on the PC, not online.

The original Sacred had six characters to choose from. They're pretty, too.

One of them is a Seraphim. In fact, it was the idea of a Seraphim coming into the world in human form to fight the bad guys that drew me to the game. It seemed an entrancing idea that a Seraphim should be sent from Heaven to fight the bad guys and have to run around the landscape looking for monsters to kill.

Each of the characters in Sacred has a number of special powers to develop. In the case of the Seraphim I found it best to develope one of her shields - because a shield can be cast on another character to protect them and this is useful when your quest is to keep someone alive for a while, - and "Lightning Bolts", a kind of weapon power that reloads quickly and, especially when you've built it up to a high level, is quite powerful even from a distance. My kids preferred the "BeeEffGee", (yes, my kids like explaining that name to me) a device that looks like a big spear and emits something like slow lightning bolts, but I found it slow to load and slow to regenerate between uses. "Lightning Bolts" was much faster.

The easiest character to play is the Wood Elf. She comes with a healing power, which means you don't have to spend so much time finding enough gold to buy more healing potions and not have to die so much, which happens to the other characters. Besides this, she starts with a companion, the Dark Elf, which makes it easier to get her out of her starting place and into the town of Bellevue where the characters can buy stuff and improve their defenses.

For me, the hardest character to play was the Gladiator. He starts in an arena and can't get out until he's killed a few monsters. However, once he's out he works OK. The "Combat Jump", which at high level shocks the enemies into stillness during his attack, is a good one to get.

The other characters of the original Sacred are a Dark Elf, a Vampiress, who starts the game with a novice to help her get to Bellvue, and the Battle Mage.

Sacred Gold has two more characters. One is a Daemon, who has been thrown out of Hell, and a Dwarf who has arrived in Ancaria via a helicopter and wields guns.

Sacred Gold is a package that includes Sacred and Sacred Underworld. Sacred Underworld is not very pretty and I don't like playing it much.

Sacred is very undemanding game. All the characters have to do is kill whatever enemy is in front of them at the time. Success or failure in the various quests doesn't seem to matter very much. Nothing the character does effects the world, and this is frustrating. Surely if all the enemies are killed in one place, the armies are able to fight more effectively in other places. However, Sacred relentlessly follows the storyline that has been laid out.

As I said, Sacred is a game I play when I'm not feeling very well. After a while I start to notice again that the game is really just one long level grind, and then I get bored, and then I know I'm getting well again.

Click here if you want to read the storyline in greater detail.

Cheers
Morva Shepley

"Erased" by Elena Gleason: Suggested Reading

2010-05-06T16:10:00.001+10:00

Read It Here: "Erased"
By Elena Gleason
In: Fantasy Magazine
Genre: Fantasy

"Erased" is a very romantic little story that begins with the words, "A year ago my boyfriend became invisible." What to do in such a situation? Should she mention it to him?

"Erased" is not without its flaws, but if you're looking for something that is decidedly chic-lit, this might be the go.

Cheers
Morva Shepley

"Cowboy Angel" : Suggested Reading

2010-04-28T14:56:00.001+10:00

READ IT HERE:"Cowboy Angel"
BY: Samantha Cope
IN:Strange Horizons
Genre: Fantasy

"Cowboy Angel" is a bit grim. The heroine reads tarot, meaning that she can see her future, and yet she enters and accepts an abusive relationship. For this story you need to be in the right mood to read it.

Cheers
Morva Shepley
http://morvahouse.blogspot.com

"Time, Again" : Suggested reading

2010-04-23T14:36:00.001+10:00

READ IT HERE: "Time, Again" Go to East of the Web's SF tab, then choose this story from the right sidebar Top Stories list
BY: Tim Maly
IN: East of the Web
Genre: Science Fiction

This is a sad and tender love story about a couple constantly parted by time.

Cheers Morva Shepley http://morvahouse.blogspot.com

"Angel Dust" : Suggested Science Fiction

2010-04-23T10:00:00.002+10:00

READ IT HERE:"Angel Dust"
BY: Jaine Fenn
IN: Labyrinth Inhabitant
Genre: Science Fiction

Isha lives in the downside of a floating city, which leads to nightmares about falling. Awake, survival is a struggle. Making a living is difficult, and keeping hold of it once it's made is even harder. On the day of this story, the thieves are after something special, something Isha doesn't even know about yet.

This is an enjoyable adventure story. It would probably lend itself well to some stunning illustrations, or look good as an anime film. See what you think.

Cheers
Morva Shepley
http://morvahouse.blogspot.com

Cheers
Morva Shepley
http://morvahouse.blogspot.com

"Across the Kalavalahalatine" : Suggested SF reading

2010-04-21T13:28:00.000+10:00

READ IT HERE: "Across the Kalavalahalatine"
BY: Darko Macan
IN: Parsek
Genre: Science Fiction

This is one of those stories that is at first difficult to follow because it is an attempt to tell it from an alien's point of view. However, it isn't long before you get the hang of it and can follow the arc of what at first seems to be a happy and fun story about a journey across a desert with the Humans masterminding the cute aliens. At first, this seems to be a good thing. The journey is a long one, though, and it gives the cute aliens a rare opportunity to think.

Cheers
Morva Shepley
http://morvahouse.blogspot.com

"The Confessions Of Prince Charming"

2010-04-18T16:25:00.002+10:00

READ IT HERE: "The Confessions Of Prince Charming"
BY: Kelly Barnhil
IN:Fantasy Magazine
Genre: Fantasy

Here is a bit of experimental writing that I really enjoyed. It's a bit difficult to pull an experiment off well because so often the story gets lost in the style. This happens a lot over at Cafe Irreal, although I did find "The Kn!ghts of Slipway 7" there enjoyable.

In "The Confessions of Prince Charming", Barnhill uses a series of short mood pieces and free verse poems to tell the story of Prince Charming. Each of these pieces is beautifully written in itself, but the over all arc of the story is also sad and sweet. Prince Charming meets many princesses, despite the warnings his mother gave him - and I must confess here that for a while I thought the story might be treading ground already beautifully covered in Stephen Sondheim's Into The Woods - but Barnhil's story does develop its own path. The Prince Charming in this story finds love all to often, but he can never keep it, and this seems to be as much his own fault as that of the princesses he falls for.

I've probably said too much already and I really don't like to give too much about a story away. This one, though, is a beautiful read with something to think about.

Cheers
Morva Shepley
http://morvahouse.blogspot.com

"High Ground" ; suggested science fiction

2010-04-16T10:00:00.002+10:00

READ IT HERE:"High Ground"
BY: Jaine Fenn
IN: Sci Phi: Journal of Science Fiction and Philosophy
Genre: Science Fiction

This is the first work I've read of Jaine Fenn's, but I'm a fan already.

"High Ground" is a grim and thoughtful story about a prisoner of war who is not tortured and is not starved by his captors, but not treated kindly, either. He has his own ideals which have lead him into becoming a common soldier despite his high birth rank. However, being of high rank he is a pawn in the game of war whether he survives or not. Even his gift for poetry can be used for propaganda as well as truth.

Cheers
Morva Shepley
http://morvahouse.blogspot.com

"The Moment" Suggested Science Fiction

2010-04-14T10:00:00.019+10:00

READ IT HERE:"The Moment"
BY: Lawrence M Schoen
IN: Lawrence M Schoen website
Genre: Science Fiction

This little story, full of flourishes and bedecked with ideas for the future history of the galaxy, is ultimately a feel-good story for us poor Humans who often feel badly about ourselves. Maybe that's why it has been short listed for the Hugo award for best SF short story of 2009.

Cheers
Morva Shepley
http://morvahouse.blogspot.com

"Non-zero Probabilities" Suggested Science Fiction

2010-04-12T10:00:00.003+10:00

READ IT HERE: "Non-zero Probabilities"
BY: N K Jemisin
IN: Clarkesworld
Genre: Science Fiction

"Non-zero Probabilities" is on the short list for the Hugo award for best science fiction short story of 2009.

Adele lives and works in New York, where statistics are focused on the small probabilities, the slim chances, the small odds. Things that only have a very slight chance of happening, do happen. Things that should be discounted as coincidence have to be taken seriously. It makes for a superstitious way of life.

Does this superstition extend to religion? Is it entropy? Or are things really the same as they ever were?

Have a read and see what you think.

Cheers
Morva Shepley
http://morvahouse.blogspot.com

"Bridesicle" suggested science fiction

2010-04-09T10:00:00.003+10:00

READ IT HERE:"Bridesicle"
BY:Will McIntosh
IN:Asimovs.com
Genre: Science Fiction

"Bridesicle" is on the shortlist for the Hugo award for the best science fiction award for 2009.

It is about the problems of Mira, who has been deep frozen since her death and can't afford to be revived.

In a future where the bodies of the dead can be revived, but only for a price too high for many to pay, and where the minds of the dead can hitch a ride with the living, we find this love story. It is sweet and sad as Mira, with no power or control over her existence at all, except the ability to speak when she is wakened, tries to make something of her life.

Enjoy.

Cheers
Morva Shepley
http://morvahouse.blogspot.com

"Spar" : Suggested Science Fiction Reading

2010-04-07T14:16:00.001+10:00

READ IT HERE:"Spar"
BY: Kij Johnson
IN: Clarkesworld
Genre: Science Fiction

Another stunning story from Kij Johnson is this Hugo Nomination.

A spar is something you might cling to after a your ship has been wrecked. To spar is also to joust, to fight without actually maiming or killing each other. Both these meanings apply in this story. In a lifeboat in space a woman and an alien are endlessly fucking. She tries not to think because thinking hurts. Sometimes words or phrases come back to her, but they lose their meaning as she repeats them endlessly over and over. She can hardly find herself anymore.

Cheers
Morva Shepley
http://morvahouse.blogspot.com

"Still Living" Suggested Fantasy Reading

2010-04-01T10:00:00.007+11:00

READ IT HERE: "Still Living"
BY: J J Irwin
IN: Strange Horizons
Genre: Fantasy

This is a really gentle fantasy story about grief. In fact, the whispering murals might almost be nothing more than a figment of the grieving woman's imagination, the constant reminders that clamor in her brain.

This is another work eligible for the John W Campbell award this year.

Cheers
Morva Shepley
http://morvahouse.blogspot.com

"Charms" : Suggested Fantasy Reading

2010-03-29T10:00:00.011+11:00

READ IT HERE: "Charms"
BY: Shweta Narayan
IN: Strange Horizons
Genre: Fantasy

Among the awards given out for the writing of science fiction and fantasy is the John W Campbell award for a work published within the last two years by an emerging writer. John W Campbell was the famous editor of Analog back in one of SF's golden eras. He died in 1971, and is still honoured each year by the presentation of this award.

Emerging writers are eligible to be nominated for two years for this award, and Shweta Narayan is in her first year of eligibility. At Morva House we've read her story "Nira and I", about girls caught up in the turbulence of change and reactionary counters to change.

In "Charms" we again see feminism as an issue.

Set in a world of witches and wizards, where many wizards were lost in the war and where magical charms can be bought at the local store, we meet a woman named Edith. Edith was young once, but is not old yet, of course. In her youth she had aspirations, but education was not permitted to women back then. Now young women are demanding more and more rights, but where does that leave someone like Edith? She's not part of the new opportunities. Her peers don't believe she ever wanted more than she has, and the young ones have left her behind.

There's a bitterness in this story, redeemed only by the slight hesitation at the end.

See what you think.

Cheers
Morva Shepley
http://morvahouse.blogspot.com

"Where We Live" Suggested Science Fiction Reading

2010-03-28T14:25:00.000+11:00

READ IT HERE:"Where We Live"
BY: Daniel J Pinney
IN: Strange Horizons
Genre: Science Fiction

This stunning story is one of those that calls itself science fiction, and has some futuristic trimmings that make it sound science fictional, and yet is near enough to us in time, and deals with themes that we are familiar with from the daily News if not in our daily lives, that it is almost mainstream.

"Where We Live" is about the life of a man caught in the midst of war. He's not on anyone's side and he's not one of the paradise dwellers who keep his kind out, he's not responsible for spreading viruses to clear out ghettoes, or using napalm to clear up afterwards. He's someone who just wants to get by.

This story is also eligible for the John W Campbell award this year.

Cheers
Morva Shepley
http://morvahouse.blogspot.com

"Deuce of Diamonds" : Suggested Reading

2010-03-22T10:00:00.023+11:00

READ IT HERE: "Deuce of Diamonds"
BY:Adrian Scanlan
IN: Space Westerns
Genre: Science Fiction

Space westerns, as a genre, is not something I've been terribly familiar with. Years ago there was a really aweful movie that was meant to be The Magnificent 7 in space. Let us speak no further of it. The TV series Fireflies, of course, was very much a post-US-Civil War scenario down to the stripes on the captain's trousers.

However, if "Deuce of Diamonds" is anything to go by, this sub-genre might be worth paying attention to. This story is as dry as Westerns are supposed to be. In fact the off-handed way in which the young protagonist refers to the death and destruction around him is almost sad. "Almost", because the story keeps moving and doesn't give you much time to think about his choice of words.

I had to smile, though at the line:

“Now, don’t panic,” said Hector. (See what I mean? That’s good leadership, right there.)

The story involves machines, explosions and big, powerful exo-skeletons for humans to wear as they fight, but it's more interesting than many space-marine type stories I've come across. Part of the interest in this story comes from the thought the author has put into creating a world in which the events are plausible.

Cheers
Morva Shepley
http://morvahouse.blogspot.com

"Brief Candle" : Suggested Reading

2010-03-18T13:57:00.001+11:00

READ IT HERE: "Brief Candle"
BY:Jason K Chapman
IN: Clarkesworld
Genre: Science Fiction

This is not a flawless story, but it is interesting enough. It takes a little sani-robot on a journey through knowledge, consciousness, life and death and even the idea of self-sacrifice. The difficulties with the story-telling come near the start where one has to accept that teaching a sanitation robot how to play chess will expand its mind. However, once that hurdle is accepted, the rest follows reasonably enough. It only remains to accept that the robot is also experiencing something like adulation for the human who programmed it with the chess game.

One of the interesting things about the story is that we only get the robot's point of view, and so we can never know for sure if the aliens are a threat to humanity or if Dunham is simply as mad as he seems to be. Even if the aliens were known to be a threat of some kind, what would the right reaction be?

Would you nominate this one for a Hugo? See what you think.

Cheers
Morva Shepley
http://morvahouse.blogspot.com

"The Patron Saint of Headaches" :Suggested Fantasy Reading

2010-03-17T15:00:00.000+11:00

READ IT HERE:"The Patron Saint of Headaches"
BY: H Earl Wilkinson
IN: Abandoned Towers
Genre: Fantasy

Here is one of those amusing little stories that reads like one of those pieces that get circulated through emails as a bit of laughter we pass on to each other. Such pieces are not always wonderfully witty, or laugh out loud clever, but they pass a moment or two happily.

"The Patron Saint of Headaches" is like that. First it gives us a view of Heaven as place of committees (but individuals, we are told, create their own Heaven) and then we are told how it came about that humans get headaches from too much staring at small print and fine work.

Cheers
Morva Shepley
http://morvahouse.blogspot.com

"None Left Behind" : Suggested Reading

2010-03-12T10:00:00.001+11:00

READ IT HERE: "None Left Behind"
BY: Nathan Crowder
IN: Absent Willow Review

Years after cyclone Katrina there are survivors still circling New Orleans, never quite ready to go back. In this exquisitely told story by Nathan Crowder, we meet an architect whose car has stalled in a small town deep in the Old South. While waiting for repairs, he gets talking to another man, who has his own tale of haunting to tell. They share something about what it was like when Katrina hit.

It's the way this story is told, the kind of details that Crowder puts into it, such as what a black man might think about if he finds himself stranded in the Old South, as he calls it, the parts of themselves the men share as they swap stories, that make this one so special.

Cheers
Morva Shepley
http://morvahouse.blogspot.com

"We left no footprints" Suggested SF Essay

2010-03-11T14:03:00.001+11:00

READ IT HERE:"We left no footprints"
BY:Yonmei
IN:Feminist SF: The Blog
Genre: SF Essay

Suggested Science Fiction reading is a little different this time. This time it is an essay, in fact two essays, about an excellent piece of historical fiction by Ursula K Le Guin. The story is "Sur", and it is about a group of South American women who plan and execute an expedition to the South Pole. What makes this expedition even more difficult is that women in that time and in that society are kept so ignorant of the world that one of them doesn't even know enough to realise that she is pregnant.

The story's feminism shows in a lack of competition. One memorable line concerns the fact that many women who are asked to join the expedition must turn down the opportunity due to their family responsibilities. The narrator (if my memory serves me right) remarks that they would not have wanted the sort of people who would shirk their responsibilities to join the journey.

Another aspect of the women's attitude is that they go to see the South Pole purely for the journey's own sake. They do not need to mark the event with flags, or prove that they have been there, and when they leave, they have lived so simply and cleanly that they "...left no footprints even."

Yonmei, inspired by a photographic exhibition, has written a very readable essay about journeys to the South Pole, and includes a link to another essay, Analysis of Ursula K. Le Guin’s “Sur: A Summary Report of the Yelcho Expedition to the Antarctic, by Abdulwahab Khaleefa at Ursula K. Le Guin's website where there is also much else to explore.

Yonmei's essay is therefore a twofer, but I can offer a third by referring you to my own essay on Le Guin and the movies of her fantasy novels about Earthsea in Steam Engine Time 11.

Cheers
Morva Shepley
http://morvahouse.blogspot.com

“Benjamin Schneider’s Little Greys” : Suggested Science Fiction

2010-03-08T10:00:00.000+11:00

READ IT HERE: “Benjamin Schneider’s Little Greys”
BY: Nir Yaniv
IN:Apex Magazine
Genre: Science Fiction

Nearly every week since he was fourteen Benjamin Schneider has been turning up at his doctor's office with some minor ailment or other. He doesn't say much. It's not hard to guess that he loves her.

The ailments, though strange and minor, need attention. One day he arrives with something that makes even less sense than usual.

This story is at its most interesting during its rational phase, but that is not where the story leads. The whys and wherefores are left out of this story, and it's up to us to decide where the doctor's leap takes us.

Cheers
Morva Shepley
http://morvahouse.blogspot.com

"Interview with a Lemming" Suggested Reading

2010-03-05T14:55:00.001+11:00

READ IT HERE: " Interview with a Lemming"
BY:James Thurber
IN:Angels, Gargoyles and Shadows
Genre: fantasy

This world would have been a much sadder place if not for the humour of James Thurber. A favorite of mine was his childrens story The Thirteen Clocks, where time was been murdered and the clocks bled minutes. The clocks can only be repaired by one person, but as she examines them she finds that she can't do it. Her companion helps her out with the advice, "If you can touch them and not fix them, you can fix them and not touch them. That's logic to my way of thinking."

Logic indeed. She then has to go around not touching the clocks.

The Lemming in the story suggested today is also logical, as well as having some ability with analogous alliteration.

There's a gentleness in Thurber's satire that reminds me of Leunig's cartoons. Hope you enjoy this, too.

Cheers
Morva Shepley
http://morvahouse.blogspot.com

"The Cat Who Walked a Thousand Miles" : Suggested Fantasy Reading

2010-03-03T10:00:00.037+11:00

READ IT HERE: "The Cat Who Walked a Thousand Miles"
BY:Kij Johnson
IN:Tor.com
Genre: Fantasy

Home isn't just a physical place. Home is also the people you share it with, the stories and culture you have in common, the sense of history and security in knowing where you belong in it all. Small Cat lives in a crumbling house in Japan not long after cats were first introduced to that county. One day, after and earthquake and a fire that finally destroys the house, she can no longer find any of the other cats, so she sets out to retrace the steps of an earlier cat who features in her family's history, The Cat Who Came From The North.

This story is very simply told, and what makes it charming is that it is allowed to unfold exactly as it wants to with no forced conflict or sense of hurry. Besides being a story about a cat, it explains the idea of fudoki, and what that means with regard to having a home and belonging with others.

Please enjoy and consider, as Small Cat does, the question of whether a home is really a home without all the elements of place, belonging, and fudoki.

Cheers
Morva Shepley
http://morvahouse.blogspot.com

:"After The Fire" : Suggested Science Fiction

2010-03-01T10:00:00.001+11:00

READ IT HERE:"After The Fire"
BY:Aliette de Bodard
IN:Apex Magazine
Genre: Scienc Fiction

Survivor guilt is a terrible thing to have to live with. On the huge ship, Red Carp, heading out into space with its cargo full of survivors, not everyone can find a reason to go on living, but if they die there will be no one left from Earth at all. They are kept in suspended animation for the journey, but here's the rub: In sleep they dream.

Cheers
Morva Shepley
http://morvahouse.blogspot.com

"Tourists": Suggested SF Reading

2010-02-26T10:00:00.005+11:00

READ IT HERE:"Tourists"
BY:Sean Craven
IN Tor.Com
Genre: Science Fiction

"Tourists" is a fun little SF story. The aliens visiting Earth take on appearances that are paradies of human paradigms, and have the names to go with them, such as Mrs Outerbridge-Horsie. These aliens have taken a shine to the narrator's grandma. He doesn't know why. Nor, in the general attempts to understand each other, does he think to ask them why they call her "Image-and-Likeness". Image and likeness of what? One wonders. But she talks about God a lot and the aliens are quite interested in her spirituality, so one supposes the connection is there. Of course, they don't have the Earth experience to understand what really happened during the 'bad' experience with some mushrooms that she tells them about.

Of course, there is a lot about Humans that the aliens don't understand. Humans barely understand themselves until it's too late.

Cheers
Morva Shepley
http://morvahouse.blogspot.com

“Hooves and the Hovel of Abdel Jameela” :Suggested Reading

2010-02-24T10:00:00.001+11:00

READ IT HERE: “Hooves and the Hovel of Abdel Jameela”
BY:Saladin Ahmed
IN: Fantasy Book Critic
GENRE: Fantasy

This is a tale of romance and demons in the lands around Baghdad. A young man, a physician from a Caliph's court in Baghdad, is sent out to live in a small village. As soon as he arrives, he begins hearing rumors concerning an old hermit by the name of Abdel Jameela. Then, one day, he is given a message that Abdel Jameela has a sick wife and they need his help.

To pick out one thing that makes this story special, it would be the way the speech of the demon wife is conveyed, always enhanced with images and scents, and the scents are sometimes quite specific, as when they are not merely roses, but yellow roses. This detail makes of the whole story a rich and exotic tapestry.

Cheers
Morva Shepley
http://morvahouse.blogspot.com

Aussiecon 4 and Hugo SF Award voting

2010-02-24T08:36:00.003+11:00

The World Science Fiction convention is being held in Melbourne this year. Part of the excitement of the World SF con is the voting for the Hugo science fiction awards.

Over at Feminist SF: The Blog, is an article about SF voting for the Hugo awards on the cheap. It does not include links to nominated stories that can read for free, but it does list a number editors for consideration and it does include this information:

That $50 is still a substantial amount of money, but you should get something in return. For the past couple of years Worldcons have produced what they call a “Hugo Voter Packet”. That’s a collection of nominated material in ebook format. Last year it was solidly good value, including 6 whole novels and over 20 short stories, plus a bunch of other material. What’s more all of the material was DRM-free – you didn’t need fancy ebook reader to access it.

The article is by Cheryl Morgan - the non-fiction editor for Clarkesworld. She says that if you pay your $50 supporting membership for the 2010 worldcon, you not only get voting rights in the Hugos for this year, but nominating rights for next year's Hugos.

However at Hugo Award Recommendations we are reminded that you had to have joined
Aussiecon 4 at least as a supporting member in order to be eligible to nominate something. If you join after that, you can still vote.

Cheers
Morva Shepley
http://morvahouse.blogspot.com

"Reflections"" Suggested Reading

2010-02-22T10:00:00.002+11:00

READ IT HERE: "Reflections"
BY:Pablo A Castro
IN:Words Without Borders
Genre: Science Fiction

Chilean writer Pablo Castro's science fiction story has an interesting texture produced by the way it moves backwards and forwards in time and through different realities.

The title "Reflections" refers not just to the narrator's thoughts about his life, but also to the method, which has become widespread and dominant in his society, of producing digital copies, or reflections, of people, those who have died. It's a way of preserving their memory when there is no room to bury them anymore and so no graves to visit. These reflections live in a reflected world, and there the living can interact with them, even touch them.

The company that creates the reflections, which calls itself VIP (and what a wonderful name for such a company) insists that they are real. But they would say that. The scene in which a VIP representative exerts all sorts of psychological pressure on the narrator to keep him paying to keep his reflections going is chillingly close to real life advertising pressure.

Meanwhile, real society is becoming increasingly grim, which is another factor that gives this story its texture.

Cheers
Morva Shepley
http://morvahouse.blogspot.com

"The Love Song Of Oliver Toddle" : Suggeted Reading

2010-02-19T10:00:00.035+11:00

READ IT HERE: "The Love Song Of Oliver Toddle"
BY: Catherine Schaff-Stump
IN: The Absent Willow Review

This is a lovely little love story. Oliver Toddle is a house gnome who lives and works in a mechanics garage, and he likes poetry. The guys in the shop know about his fondness for literature and borrow books from the library for him. One day, one of the guys leaves to start a new life, and a replacement comes. What develops then is a meeting of minds as it turns out that the replacement also likes poetry, not the soppy, sentimental kind, but the kind that expresses love but also looks into the soul. Through the poems they love, they begin to communicate.

Cheers
Morva Shepley
http://morvahouse.blogspot.com

Paul Haines: Horror Writer and SF award winner

2010-02-16T12:11:00.000+11:00

It pays to browse around.

Just now I came across this reference to a novella I had not heard of but which is, apparently, recommended. It is a Hugo Award hopeful and so, because it's only available in Australia at the moment, the author is offering it for a free read. I haven't read it myself, (yet) but just in case you are someone who might want to nominate or vote in the Hugos this year, I'm putting a link to it anyway.

Paul Haines' story "Wives", and his "Slice Of Life- A Spot Of Liver", were both joint winners for the 2009 Aurealis Awards.

Both stories are available at the horror writer's site for your consideration.

Cheers
Morva Shepley
http://morvahouse.blogspot.com

Reading "A House For Mr Biswas"

2010-02-03T13:56:00.001+11:00

V S Naipul is one of the world's famous writers of post-colonial fiction, which is to say he comes from a country that used to be a colony. A lot of us live in countries like that. Mr Biswas is an Indian living in an Indian community in Trinidad, as far as I can tell - Port au Spain gets mentioned sometimes, in the Caribbean.

The story starts with his death in his house, and there is an emphasis on how poor the house is and how important its possession is to Mr Biswas. The story then takes us back to his birth, which was inauspicious. Here, it is strange reading of a baby still referred to as "Mr Biswas". He was an unlucky child, which is to say that it was foretold that he would be a bringer of bad luck. At first, this seemed to be true. Given the care of a neighbour's calf, on which much of this poor person's economic future depended, he let it stray and it fell in a river and drowned. He hid, but the community believed that he had drowned and, while diving for his body, his father drowned.

So far, Mr Biswas' life seems to be like that. He has some good luck, such as a talent and a business in sign-writing, but he knows so little of the way that people behave that he keeps stumbling into unwanted situations. In fact, he stumbled into marriage largely, as he himself was aware, he didn't like to say no. These bits of 'embarrassment stories', if I may call them back, cause me to stop reading from time to time because I feel I can't take it. My empathy factor just doesn't want to go there. However, after a day or two I find that I haven't forgotten him but become worried about him, and then I have to pick the book up again to find out what happened next.

At the moment I've stopped again because he is clearly about to be set up by someone in order to make an attack on another business. Clearly, this is not going to go well.

Talk about slow reading.

Cheers
Morva

Cheers
Morva Shepley
http://morvahouse.blogspot.com

Writers Help for Haiti

2010-01-18T11:33:00.000+11:00

Over at the online SF zine, Crossed Genres, there is a long list of writers offering their fiction in return for donations to relief efforts to help the victims of the devastation in Haiti. Go Here!

Cheers
Morva Shepley
http://morvahouse.blogspot.com

Watching Avatar

2009-12-30T13:59:00.000+11:00

We took the kids (aged 10 and 13), to see the new 3D movie, Avatar. It was a long movie, so we took plenty of food aswell.

Spoilers follow: Even the ending is discussed!

There were many things to enjoy about the movie. For one thing, it didn't explain things the self evident stuff: in the opening scene, when people are floating around obviously in low-g, no one had to say, 'hey, we're in low-g and we're floating around.' Similarly, I didn't notice anyone mentioning the kind of air on Pandora (I may have been rummaging for chips or something while any exposition took place) but it became pretty obvious that Humans couldn't go outside without their masks on. No one said anything, it was just something you had to watch for. In short, for once an SF film made good use of its visual modality.

Similarly, the floating mountains were not explained. Floating mountains, or islands, are one of those really specky things that turn up in stories sometimes, but they have problems. For one thing, the question arises as to why they float, and if it's because there is no gravity, then why do they have atmospheres and plants and why are the humans able to walk on them once they land there? Avatar gets around these questions by not explaining them. There is an implication that their nature is connected to the resources which have brought the Humans to Pandora to mine in the first place, but that's all. This means that there is not enough information to disagree with and the story can keep moving in a satisfactory 'Boy's Own Adventure' sort of way. In short, it seemed to me that the floating mountains of Pandora floated because they were being pushed up by some sort of magnetic reaction. They have an up and down because they are within Pandora's gravity, and they are covered in plants, which are breaking them down, because weeds get in everywhere.

As to the storyline, it's about colonialism and the inability of the invaders to see anything other than the resources they are after. In this case, the military is there to support a mining operation. The mining operation needs to mine on the very spot that is most sacred to the natives. That sounds like such a convenient coincidence that one forgets that it's actually logical since the power that connects the living things of the planet is connected to the resource that the miners are there to dig for.

The plotline is about a Human who has lost the use of legs. Instead, he is given the opportunity to join a team of anthropologists who 'drive' avatars as part of their research into the natives of Pandora. The avatars artificially grown Pandoran bodies which the researchers can 'drive' in order to interact and learn about the natives. Without the minds of the drivers, the bodies slump into a coma.

Naturally, our hero meets and falls in love with a Pandoran female and has to decide to help her people. Later, my saner half said he thought the plot reminded him of some cowboy movie or other where a cowboy falls in love with an Indian woman. 'Broken Arrow', I told him. Yeah, that was it.The thing that kept tickling the back of my mind, though, was the idea of the world tree. That seemed familiar. As near as I can guess, it was probably James Blish, and it may have been A Case of Conscience, but I could be wrong.

Still, recalling that title brings to mind the question of why, although Avatar was so stunning to watch, I didn't find myself still dwelling in it and worrying about it days, or even hours later. It was a great place for a picnic, and will probably make a wonderful computer game, but it didn't cut deep.

The reason it didn't go deep is probably because the bad guys were bad and no one's conscience was really involved. The mining rep argues that the mining must go ahead regardless of the consequences to the natives. The attitude seems plausible because, after all, the rep lives in a world of profit motives and the loss of sensibility is something that his race has long since had to suck up. Only the measurable matters, and money is the most important measurable thing to the company shareholders. So his line is plausible. Still, something is missing.

In the end, it is mentioned that the world of the Humans is dying. If this had been mentioned earlier, there might have been more turmoil in the story. Instead of good guys versus bad, even mad guys - the colonel in control of the army on Pandora seems over eager to destroy things - there could have been more moral choices: "Is my life so important that it is worth destroying yours?" "Is there a better solution whereby we all get to survive?" Instead of going mad, we could have seen the colonel suffering through the agony of being pulled in one direction by the pressures of the mining company and his duty to his fellow humans, and in another by the researchers and the possibility of a different solution by the natives. Then, if the plot still demanded that he go mad, at least that would have been understandable.

Avatar is a visually stunning piece of escapist entertainment. Go enjoy it.

Cheers
Morva Shepley
http://morvahouse.blogspot.com

Suggested Listening "His Master's Voice"

2009-12-08T10:00:00.023+11:00

Free Speculative Fiction short stories online.

Listen here: "His Master's Voice"
By Hannu Rajaniemi
In Escape Pod # EP227
Genre:SF

In this podcast from Escape Pod, we hear a grim tale told by an enhanced dog about the fall of its Master, and the attempt it made, together with the cat, to save him

Cheers
Morva Shepley
http://morvahouse.blogspot.com

Under The Umbrella : Fiction at Morva House

2009-11-29T19:28:00.001+11:00

"Because of the Fear"

"But there was no answer"

"Don't Delete The Angel"

"Eurydice"

"Heavenly Ladder"

"Ignorance"

"Lollies"

"Manic Monday"

"On The Tour"

"Perfect Moon"

"Strange Window"

"Stupid Romantic Gesture"

"Their Work Was Done"

"Walking To Lethe"

Cheers
Morva Shepley
http://morvahouse.blogspot.com

Morva House Fiction : "Their Work Was Done"

2009-11-29T18:28:00.003+11:00

“When the glass is half full, you add a touch of adrenalin, to make it fizz.”

“Fizz?”

“It's more alive with a bit fizz.”

“Oh. Does it matter how big the glass is?”

“No. Just be sure to use the same glass so that you get the proportions right.”

“Ah. So the bigger the glass, the bigger the monster. Right?”

“In theory. In practice, if you make your monster too big it just collapses in on itself.”

“No matter how many legs?”

“No matter how many legs.”

“What if -”

“If you make it bug like, it suffocates on the inside.”

“What if -”

“Then you have to go digital. Hacking the digital medium is not my department.”

“You've been teaching this for a long time.”

“Yes.”

“So what happened to the dinosaurs?”

“Their work was done. That's why we're churning humans out now, to scavenge up the last of the mess.”

* * *
"Their Work Was Done" copyright by Morva Shepley 2009
http://morvahouse.blogspot.com

Morva House Fiction: Heavenly Ladder

2009-11-29T17:33:00.010+11:00

The ladder goes a long way up. It leans against a satellite and is not a place for people who have a fear of heights, or who are not warmly dressed. Extreme hikers like to climb the ladder. They have to carry safety straps, which makes the climbing tedious. Reach up, hook the strap on the rung, step up, unhook, reach up, step up. Reach, hook, step, reach, hook, step. They stumble up against the sky. If they get the order wrong, they stumble. They don't usually fall, though, because the thing that has made them stumble is the safety strap. They've forgotten to unhook and reach before they step and the safety strap has tugged at them.

One of the fine sights while up the ladder is that of the hang-gliders. The hang-gliders take the easy way up on the rail, and they drop out of Platform One, where there is still some atmosphere, and spread great wings to claim the air. They fall fast, and for a moment it seems that gravity has some hard words for them, but the wings are very scientific and do not burn up but catch the air and swoop and curve as the hang-gliders play before they concentrate on navigating their way to their checkpoint.

The hikers are not as free in their path as the gliders, but they plan to go higher. It is easier than climbing a mountain. Mountains are treacherous with mists and avalanches, but the ladder has firm and regular rungs. At first it is very tiring to the legs, but later they become lighter and the going is easier. After that point, when the climber becomes tired, they need only hook themselvs to a rung and rest, tethered while they float in dreams above the world.

* * *

"Heavenly Ladder" copyright Morva Shepley 2009 http://morvahouse.blogspot.com

NaNoWriMo 09, and "Gankutsuou" a quick review

2009-11-29T15:24:00.000+11:00

I did it, 50,000 words in 30 days. It's a good exercise, and I think I learn a lot about novel writing by participating. This year I hope I've developed some material that I can actually turn into a novel, but we'll see how we go as I've got a list of other projects to work on, a number of short stories to re-work, an ANZAPA contibution to finish, a box of books to catalogue in the library where I do some volunteer work, and, of course, I have to keep up my gym workouts.

Still, I feel so much better after my nano achievement that I've gone back to my list of house renovations that need to be done.

Meanwhile, I'm treating myself to watching the Gankutsuou, an anime series based on Dumas' revenge tragedy The Count of Monte Cristo. The story is set in the future, and part of the Count's motivation now comes from having been taken over by what is essentially a revenge demon. However, it is beautifully done, the designs are really intriguing, and it's certainly a visual feast.

It is also clear that the makers love the original story, and it does invite one to re-read the novel.

Worth checking out.Gankutsuou: The Count of Monte Cristo, from Studio Gonzo.

Cheers
Morva Shepley
http://morvahouse.blogspot.com

Review "Zorro" by Isabel Allende

2009-10-28T10:00:00.064+11:00

Some of you might be far too young to remember an ancient TV show about a daring, swordfighting swashbuckler who dressed in black and wore a black mask and rode a (probably) black horse doing away with the bad guys of Mexico. Don't confuse him with the Cisco Kid, who wore a more ornately designed outfit and had a humorous sidekick. Zorro dressed all and black and has had movies made about him in recent years.

I haven't seen the movie that this book was related to, but that is of no consequence. For me, the important thing was to grab and read anything by Isabel Allende that I might find in the library. It occurs to me that she is one writer whose career I have followed over the years. At first she was famous for her work in the genre of magic realism. She had a wonderful way of sliding the magic in as a perfectly normal part of life. In one story, a woman who is a witch is feared by the men, so she can't get a husband, until, we are told almost in the next breath, the man arrives who loves her perhaps even because of her strength. In a later novel, the magic disappears. It gets explained away. At the time I was disappointed, but now I see it as part of the writer's life. She is not made of stone and she, like her stories and her ideas, must grow and change. When I read a young adolescent novel about a boy who went with his grandmother to the jungles of South America, I felt that she had found a new path. It wasn't the same as her old magic realism, but it was a path that worked for her all the same.

In Zorro, she is asked to tell the story of how Zorro came to be. This meant putting together all the pieces of skill and knowledge that hero has displayed in his adventures and trying to make them plausible. To do this, she gives him a family in Mexico and an ancestry that includes the local native Indians. Some skills grow out of his boyhood escapades, others develop during a sojourn in Spain. Some are amusing. For instance, she suggests that the reason he wore a mask that was really a scarf tied over half his head was that he needed to hide his ears. His ears stuck out in such a way that every one would recognise him instantly if he didn't tie them down.

The famous 'Z' symbol, which we all remember, the quick flick of his sword, swish, swish, swish in less time than it took him to pass by, (the sort of skill that fascinates children - could we move a sword that fast?) came as much from his humor as his pride, a bit of graffitti that was always going to betray him at some point.

Allende adds some research into history and life in the time Zorro is set, telling us what was happening to the Indians as they tried to survive the white invasion, information about what happened in Spain during the Napoleonic wars, (just think, Hornblower was in France, according to the story in Lord Hornblower, trying to escape at the same time that Zorro was in Spain trying to escape), and descriptions of piracy and the slave trade. For instance, I hadn't realised that the terror of Skull and Crossbones flag derived from the fact that it meant no prisoners would be taken. The red flag, on the other hand, meant that prisoners would be taken and held for ransom.

Sometimes, though, I felt she was bored, as if there was another depth she would have liked to add to the hero but was constrained not to. That, though, might be just an effect of the translation since she wrote it in Spanish. It was only every now and then that there were one of those beautiful pieces that are just all Allende. Fortunately, one of these is the opening, which was what encouraged me to read all the way through to the end.

This is a good one for when you are in the mood for an adventure story, and if you have some nostalgia for Zorro, so much the better.

Cheers
Morva Shepley
http://morvahouse.blogspot.com

Sugested Reading: "The Wicker Husband"

2009-10-13T10:00:00.001+11:00

Free Speculative Fiction short stories online.

Read it here:"The Wicker Husband"
By Ursula Wills-Jones
In East-of-the-Web
Genre:Fantasy

This is a charming little tale of life in a village where people get married, live, dance and quarrel among themselves, all except the Ugly girl, who is left alone and so has no one to talk to and no one to marry. She decides to do something about it, but what she does rouses the villagers to an even greater level of quarrelsomeness.

Cheers
Morva Shepley
http://morvahouse.blogspot.com

Sugested Reading: "Hobbit 419" by Stephen Granade And Others

2009-09-28T08:56:00.004+10:00

Read it here: Hobbit 419
By Stephen Granade
In Live Granades
Genre: Satire / Fantasy

When Stephen Granade wrote this blog post, he wondered how Bilbo's Unexpected Party might be pitched as a modern con. Those of you who have read "The Hobbit" will remember that the party begins when the dwarves arrive in small groups. Eventually, flustered, Bilbo finds himself throwing a party for fourteen. It is a trick that Gandalf repeats on Beorn later in the book.

The link above takes you straight to Stephen's post at Live Granades. A bonus is that when you scroll through the discussion you can read a mangled-English version (Manglish?) that is is quite funny.

If you go to this link at BoingBoing and scroll through the discussion, you will also find a scam by which Frodo is trying to con someone else into taking the ring to Mordor.

Cheers
Morva Shepley
http://morvahouse.blogspot.com

Four Books I've Read Lately: 4, Breath by Tim Winton

2009-09-05T10:00:00.005+10:00

It's wonderful what you can pick up and read for free from your local public library.

The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman
The Children's Bach by Helen Garner
Lord Hornblower by CS Forester
Breath by Tim Winton

I find I can recommend all four of these books. Strangely enough, each of them has a theme connected with the idea of growing up.

Breath by Tim Winton was greeted with much acclaim when it came out, Winton being an award winning author, and this book won the 2009 Miles Franklin award, so if you want to sink yourself into beautiful writing for its own sake, this might be a good one to try. On the other hand, you might just want to read it because you like surfing.

The story starts with ambulance man Bruce coming upon a scene in which a young man has just died. As soon as he sees the young body, he understands exactly what has happened. He knows it was an accident. When he was young, he himself could have died in just that way.

It was neither the written language nor the surfing that kept my interest so much as the examination of teenage risky behaviour. One thing was obvious. Bruce lost communication with his sweet and somewhat elderly parents because he couldn't very well tell them what he had been up to.

The rest of the book goes back over his young teenage years when he went out surfing with his best mate, a damaged young boy called Loonie. Sometimes I had the feeling that Loony sought risk and the rush of adrenalin because he was so broken inside that it was the only way he could feel anything at all. The older man, Sandy, oozes masculine charm and the boys worship him as a hero and would do anything for his approval, but although he is a famous surfer, ultimately he is another character who needs to grow up.

What makes Breath brilliant is that the reader can sense things about the characters that are not explicitly revealed. What made it really interesting to me was that Bruce has a moment when he seems to have it all. He goes beyond the need for Sandy's approval. Coming of age stories usually stop at a point like that one, but Breath is not that kind of tale and it keeps on going into what happened next and on into the car crash of life brought on by the impact of irresponsible adults on his life.

Whenever I put this book down, I felt no particular urgency about taking it up again, but while I was reading it, it was lovely and, having finished it, found it was one of those books that wants to be talked about. People who love taking risk themselves might view it differently from those who don't see the point, and of course everyone is going to have their own views of the culpability of the different characters.

Cheers
Morva Shepley
http://morvahouse.blogspot.com